Baselworld is only a few weeks away. Getting the latest news is easy, Click Here for info on how to join the Watchuseek.com newsletter list. Follow our team for updates featuring event coverage, new product unveilings, watch industry news & more!

DISC 1: Theatrical Version
DISC 2: Extended Version with 7 Minutes of Footage Not Shown in Theatres.
DISC 3:
- Diagon Alley
- Tour the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry's Room and the Great Hall - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Hogwarts, home of witches and wizards in training, and take in the sights.
- Classrooms:
- Defense Against the Dark Arts; Spells and Charms; Potions; Transfiguration; Third Floor Corridor; Deleted Scenes.
- Sorting Hat
- Library
- Gallery of Art & Architecture
- Hogwarts Yearbook
- Guide to Ghosts - Discover the many marvelous and mysterious ghosts of Hogwarts.
- Hogwarts Grounds
- Quaffle and Bludger - Get a lesson from Oliver Wood on how to play Quidditch.
- Tour Hagrid's Hut - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Hagrid's Hut, home of Rubeus Hagrid, the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, and his faithful companion, Fang.
- Extra Credit
- Interview - Capturing the Stone: A Conversation with the Filmmakers - Director Chris Columbus, Producer David Heyman, Screenwriter
Steve Kloves and Production Designer Stuart Craig talk about casting and bringing the novel to life.
DISC 4:
- Introduction by Daniel Radcliffe - An introduction to the many special features for the Harry Potter films [NEW]
- Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 1: The Magic Begins - Discover the story of how one vision for the Harry Potter films came together out of limitless possibilities to create the visual world we have come to know and love. [NEW]
- A Glimpse Into the World of Harry Potter 2001 International TV Special
- Deleted Scenes
- Trailers and TV Spots
DISC 5
- Digital Copy of Theatrical Film
- In-Movie Experience with Director Chris Columbus: An interactive viewer experience where the entire film is examined; includes PiP, Storyboard Comparisons, Still Galleries (Blu-ray only)
- WB Maximum Movie Mode picture-in-picture programming, cast walk-ons, focus points, graphics and more. (Blu-ray only)
- BD Live with access to worldwide events, special guest participants, community features and more. (Blu-ray only)

Wow. They need a whole 2nd disc for an additional seven minutes of footage? Haven't they heard of seamless branching? Sounds like a ploy to have a higher MSRP by calling it a 5 disc set. One is a lame digital copy too. balls....

Can someone provide a link confirming this disc breakdown?

Edit: I was able to locate a copy of the press release, and the separate discs for theatrical and extended versions is in the description of the DVD version. The description of the BD version doesn't have the disc-by-disc breakdown. My big question is whether the PQ is likely to be any better than the original BD releases.

DISC 1: • Theatrical Version including In-Movie Experience with Director Chris Columbus • Extended Version with 7 Minutes of Footage Not Shown in Theatres - BD-Live(New)

DISC 2: • Introduction by Daniel Radcliffe • Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 1: The Magic Begins - Discover the story of how one vision for the Harry Potter films came together out of limitless possibilities to create the visual world we have come to know and love. • A Glimpse Into the World of Harry Potter 2001 International TV Special - Deleted Scenes Trailers(New)

DISC 3: • Diagon Alley • Tour the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry’s Room and the Great Hall - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Hogwarts, home of witches and wizards in training, and take in the sights. • Classrooms: Defense Against the Dark Arts; Spells and Charms; Potions; Transfiguration; • Third Floor Corridor; Deleted Scenes. • Sorting Hat • Library: Gallery of Art & Architecture; Hogwarts Yearbook; Guide to Ghosts - Discover the many marvelous and mysterious ghosts of Hogwarts. • Hogwarts Grounds: Quaffle and Bludger - Get a lesson from Oliver Wood on how to play Quidditch; Tour Hagrid’s Hut - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Hagrid’s Hut, home of Rubeus Hagrid, the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts, and his faithful companion, Fang. • Extra Credit • Interview - Capturing the Stone: A Conversation with the Filmmakers - Director Chris Columbus, Producer David Heyman, Screenwriter Steve Kloves and Production Designer Stuart Craig talk about casting and bringing the novel to life.(From Previous Release)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

DISC 1: • Theatrical Version including In-Movie Experience with Director Chris Columbus • Extended Version with 13 Minutes of Footage Not Shown in Theatres. BD-Live(New)

DISC 2: • Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 2: Characters - Explore how the cast and creative team of directors and designers take the character’s descriptions on the page to the actor’s performances on film. • Screen Tests of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Revealed - 2002 HBO First Look special - Trailers and TV Spots(New)

DISC 3: • Deleted Scenes • Lockhart’s Classroom • Photo Gallery: Certificates - Have a look at Gilderoy Lockhart’s many achievements; Required Reading - Find out what text books you’ll need for Lockhart’s Defense Against the Dark Arts class. • Extra Credit • Behind Hogwarts • A Conversation with J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves - The author and screenwriter detail how the books are brought to life, and the changes that happen in the process. • Dumbledore’s Office • Build a Scene - Building a scene as magnificent as Professor Dumbledore’s office takes more than wood, plaster, nails and paint. It takes imagination. • Tour Dumbledore’s Office - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Professor Dumbledore’s office, one of the most fascinating rooms at Hogwarts. • Interviews with Students, Professors and More • Gallery of Production Sketches • Activities • Spellcaster Knowledge Challenge [Game] • EA Game Preview(From Previous Release)

Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio. 6.1 for the theatrical, 5.1 for the extended cut.

Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

DISC 1: Theatrical Version including In-Movie Experience with Director Chris Columbus Extended Version with 7 Minutes of Footage Not Shown in Theatres - BD-Live(New)

DISC 2: Introduction by Daniel Radcliffe Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 1: The Magic Begins - Discover the story of how one vision for the Harry Potter films came together out of limitless possibilities to create the visual world we have come to know and love. A Glimpse Into the World of Harry Potter 2001 International TV Special - Deleted Scenes Trailers(New)

DISC 3: Diagon Alley Tour the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry's Room and the Great Hall - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Hogwarts, home of witches and wizards in training, and take in the sights. Classrooms: Defense Against the Dark Arts; Spells and Charms; Potions; Transfiguration; Third Floor Corridor; Deleted Scenes. Sorting Hat Library: Gallery of Art & Architecture; Hogwarts Yearbook; Guide to Ghosts - Discover the many marvelous and mysterious ghosts of Hogwarts. Hogwarts Grounds: Quaffle and Bludger - Get a lesson from Oliver Wood on how to play Quidditch; Tour Hagrid's Hut - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Hagrid's Hut, home of Rubeus Hagrid, the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts, and his faithful companion, Fang. Extra Credit Interview - Capturing the Stone: A Conversation with the Filmmakers - Director Chris Columbus, Producer David Heyman, Screenwriter Steve Kloves and Production Designer Stuart Craig talk about casting and bringing the novel to life.(From Previous Release)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

DISC 1: Theatrical Version including In-Movie Experience with Director Chris Columbus Extended Version with 13 Minutes of Footage Not Shown in Theatres. BD-Live(New)

DISC 2: Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 2: Characters - Explore how the cast and creative team of directors and designers take the character's descriptions on the page to the actor's performances on film. Screen Tests of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Revealed - 2002 HBO First Look special - Trailers and TV Spots(New)

DISC 3: Deleted Scenes Lockhart's Classroom Photo Gallery: Certificates - Have a look at Gilderoy Lockhart's many achievements; Required Reading - Find out what text books you'll need for Lockhart's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Extra Credit Behind Hogwarts A Conversation with J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves - The author and screenwriter detail how the books are brought to life, and the changes that happen in the process. Dumbledore's Office Build a Scene - Building a scene as magnificent as Professor Dumbledore's office takes more than wood, plaster, nails and paint. It takes imagination. Tour Dumbledore's Office - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Professor Dumbledore's office, one of the most fascinating rooms at Hogwarts. Interviews with Students, Professors and More Gallery of Production Sketches Activities Spellcaster Knowledge Challenge [Game] EA Game Preview(From Previous Release)

Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio. 6.1 for the theatrical, 5.1 for the extended cut.

Thanks, that listing on that site does look like a copy of something released by Warner. So the question is whether the two versions will be done through seamless branching or just two separate versions of the movie on the same disc, as they did on I Am Legend, for example.

Ah! But then when will the ultimate editions of Deathly Hallows 1 & 2 come out?

Oh, you didn't hear? They're going to turn The Tales of Beedle the Bard into a 5 movie series based on the short stories in that tome. So that's likely to be when they release DH1&2's Ultimate Editions!

Ultimate Edition of Deathly Hallows Part I will be probably in the fall of 2011 since Deathly Hallows Part II comes out May of 2011(Video release of Deathly Hallows Part II will probably hit in November 2011).

Ultimate Edition of Deathly Hallows Part II will be a fall 2012 release with the release of the Harry Potter series boxset that contains the exact same elements these individual releases of the ultimate editions have.

As for the video, WB will likely use seamless branching with IME. I don't see them doing new transfers for the first two. It would be nice considering films 3 through 5 look pretty great on Blu Ray (Add film six to that list, I'm willing to bet).

Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

For me, these would be a rent before buy deal. I have DVDs and BRs of the first 5, and honestly, the extras on them are hit or miss. Some are actually pretty good, and the interviews are worth watching. Some of the "making of the movies" segments are actually re-watchable. The ones on PoA for instance. But a lot of the other stuff is not up my alley. The games and "view this room" stuff does nothing for me.

I certainly wouldn't buy another version for 7 minutes of footage, and it better be 13 minutes of really ground shattering stuff to get me to spend again on Chamber of Secrets.

These are definitely must buy(for me) for the extended cuts, IME, and the 8-hour documentary spread over the eight releases eventually. That documentary is the big selling point for me.

But, you are correct. The special features on all the films have been really hit or miss. I personally feel that Prisoner of Azkaban had the best special features....

As for the extended cuts K, if you saw Chamber of Secrets on TV, then you already saw the extended cut. If I recall, they did that with Sorcerer's Stone as well. But, the other films haven't got that treatment on TV yet. The rest of the films after Chamber of Secrets is what I'm most looking forward to, in terms of extended cuts, eventhough I know they won't be earth shattering extended cuts. I'd be willing to be that on average, the extended cuts for the rest of the films in this series will be seven to ten minutes.

Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

DISC 1: Theatrical Version including In-Movie Experience with Director Chris Columbus Extended Version with 7 Minutes of Footage Not Shown in Theatres - BD-Live(New)

DISC 2: Introduction by Daniel Radcliffe Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 1: The Magic Begins - Discover the story of how one vision for the Harry Potter films came together out of limitless possibilities to create the visual world we have come to know and love. A Glimpse Into the World of Harry Potter 2001 International TV Special - Deleted Scenes Trailers(New)

DISC 3: Diagon Alley Tour the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry's Room and the Great Hall - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Hogwarts, home of witches and wizards in training, and take in the sights. Classrooms: Defense Against the Dark Arts; Spells and Charms; Potions; Transfiguration; Third Floor Corridor; Deleted Scenes. Sorting Hat Library: Gallery of Art & Architecture; Hogwarts Yearbook; Guide to Ghosts - Discover the many marvelous and mysterious ghosts of Hogwarts. Hogwarts Grounds: Quaffle and Bludger - Get a lesson from Oliver Wood on how to play Quidditch; Tour Hagrid's Hut - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Hagrid's Hut, home of Rubeus Hagrid, the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts, and his faithful companion, Fang. Extra Credit Interview - Capturing the Stone: A Conversation with the Filmmakers - Director Chris Columbus, Producer David Heyman, Screenwriter Steve Kloves and Production Designer Stuart Craig talk about casting and bringing the novel to life.(From Previous Release)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

DISC 1: Theatrical Version including In-Movie Experience with Director Chris Columbus Extended Version with 13 Minutes of Footage Not Shown in Theatres. BD-Live(New)

DISC 2: Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 2: Characters - Explore how the cast and creative team of directors and designers take the character's descriptions on the page to the actor's performances on film. Screen Tests of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Revealed - 2002 HBO First Look special - Trailers and TV Spots(New)

DISC 3: Deleted Scenes Lockhart's Classroom Photo Gallery: Certificates - Have a look at Gilderoy Lockhart's many achievements; Required Reading - Find out what text books you'll need for Lockhart's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Extra Credit Behind Hogwarts A Conversation with J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves - The author and screenwriter detail how the books are brought to life, and the changes that happen in the process. Dumbledore's Office Build a Scene - Building a scene as magnificent as Professor Dumbledore's office takes more than wood, plaster, nails and paint. It takes imagination. Tour Dumbledore's Office - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Professor Dumbledore's office, one of the most fascinating rooms at Hogwarts. Interviews with Students, Professors and More Gallery of Production Sketches Activities Spellcaster Knowledge Challenge [Game] EA Game Preview(From Previous Release)

Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio. 6.1 for the theatrical, 5.1 for the extended cut.

Yes, it is Warner, after all, so the best guess is there will be two entirely separate versions of the movie on the same disc and the PQ will be no better than on the original releases.

I'm no techhead, but would it even be possible to release two completely separate encodes on one disc (for aggregate runtimes of 309 on SORCERER'S STONE and 335 for CHAMBER), with two separate 6.1 and 5.1 Master Audio streams, and come out with an image anyone would consider to be quality?

I'm no techhead, but would it even be possible to release two completely separate encodes on one disc (for aggregate runtimes of 309 on SORCERER'S STONE and 335 for CHAMBER), with two separate 6.1 and 5.1 Master Audio streams, and come out with an image anyone would consider to be quality?

Who said anything about quality? This is Warner, after all. And these movies were originally released on both formats, so Warner has already demonstrated that they can get one version of each movie into one HD DVD disc, which is not much more than half of a dual layer BD.

I highly doubt they'll surpass the quality we have already, I'm sure it's just the same thing repackaged as far as the transfer/encode goes. If the picture quality does happen to be a bit better, I might bite, but I don't think I'm holding my breath on that one.

Yes, it is Warner, after all, so the best guess is there will be two entirely separate versions of the movie on the same disc and the PQ will be no better than on the original releases.

Which is not even good to begin with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by C. Lawrence Sims

I don't see them doing new transfers for the first two. It would be nice considering films 3 through 5 look pretty great on Blu Ray (Add film six to that list, I'm willing to bet).

That's something I would disagree. All HP looks filtered and with bad compression on BD.

Based on the quality of day-and-date releases from WB, I'm willing to bet not even part 6 will look great.

Titles like Watchmen, Gran Torino, Ghosts of Gilfriends Past, Observe and Report, Yes Man, Body Of Lies and every other day-and-date release from Warner looks either (at least) a little filtred or ineffectively compressed.

i'm not sure there's 4 hours worth of material in the first 3 harry potter books. i don't recall much being left out of hp1 or 2, it wasn't really until the third one where things started to get left out. now once you hit 4 and 5 (haven't seen 6 yet) both those feel like cliff notes versions of the films.

You're probably right with hp1 and hp2 - although there are a few fun scenes in the latter that were left out (de-knome-ing the weasley garden, for example). Hp3 and on certainly could have been significantly expanded.

Certainty and conviction are a sure sign you don't know what you're talking about! The world is not black and white, rather shades of grey!

So they first had Movies 1-5 with PCM sound. The Ultimate Editions will have DTS MA 6.1 theatrical/5.1 extended. Now this new gift set will have Dolby True HD 5.1. Is the next gift set with only movies 1-7 going to have an even different sound format, perhaps Dolby True HD 7.1 or maybe even 9.1?

This thread is frustrating, but very helpful.
I've been holding off buying the set.
My son is even going as HP for halloween (and his brother will be Hedwig), so they are "gearing up" -- but with SD DVD.

So they are putting these in non-standard craptacular packaging. Just to make sure that I have absolutely no where to put it other than in my HUGE dedicated Harry Potter display (here's a hint: I don't have one and never will!). Why can't they just use a standard Blu-ray case instead of the f'n cardboard JUNK??? If you want to include the book and whatnot fine, but instead of that flimsy cardboard case inside that won't fit with anything else, give me the standard case in the bigger box so I can file away all the crap and just stick the damn movie on the shelf..

You know what Warner? Never f'n mind. I'll stick with the standard releases. I'm not that big of a Harry Potter fan. Add this one to TMNT and every stupid digibook as a release I will not buy. None of these movies are my favorites (and thus are not required), but they are titles I would have purchased if they didn't piss me off.